In automobile and other vehicle manufacture and service industries, people often need to remove pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from the bodies of vehicles such as trucks or automobiles. Traditionally, this is done by peeling, scratching or sanding off the pinstripes, decals, side moldings, etc. However, these traditional methods usually cause damage to the original paint of the bodies of the vehicles.
It is known that most of the pinstripes, decals and side moldings and many other functional or decorative items are adhered on the body of a vehicle. It is also known that at a certain temperature, the adhesive retaining the item on the vehicle will lose its adhesion. It is further known that rotating a rubber wheel at a desired speed and frictionally engaging the rubber wheel with the pinstripe, decal, side molding or other adhered item on the body of a vehicle, such as truck or automobile, may generate the frictional heat necessary to cause the adhered item to lose its adhesion.
One critical aspect of removing pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from a vehicle is the hardness of the rubber wheel of the portable vehicle adhesive remover. On one hand, if the rubber wheel is too soft, it may not generate adequate heat, or take too long to generate adequate heat, as it is applied to pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items to cause the adhesive to lose adhesion with the body of the vehicle. On the other hand, if the rubber wheel is too hard, it may leave permanent damage on the original paint of the vehicle.
Another critical aspect of removing pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from a vehicle is the friability of the rubber wheel. The rubber wheel needs to be strong and hold together to generate adequate heat as described above, but also gradually break off into pieces before it heats up leaving permanent damage on the original paint of the vehicle.
An exemplary rubber wheel adhesive remover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,990 (the '990 patent) issued to Vipperman on Apr. 29, 1997. The '990 patent describes a method of manufacturing a rubber wheel for removing pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from a vehicle. The '990 patent describes a rubber wheel with a hardness between 40 and 45, preferably 42. A rubber wheel having hardness between 40 and 45 may be too soft to effectively generate adequate heat to cause the adhesive to lose adhesion so pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items may be removed. A rubber wheel having hardness between 40 and 45 must be rotated at higher speeds in order for it to generate substantial heat. The '990 patent also discloses a rubber wheel that is formed by a method that includes adding a substantial amount of hard clays as inorganic filler into the masticated rubber mixture. Using hard clay as an inorganic filler results in a rubber wheel that is less friable, causing the rubber wheel to heat up and burn rubber across the paint finish of a vehicle before it crumbles and breaks off.
It is desirable to manufacture rubber wheels for use on a portable vehicle adhesive remover for removing pinstripes, decals, side moldings and other adhered items from a vehicle that optimizes the two critical features described above. The disclosed method of manufacturing a rubber wheel and composition thereof is directed at overcoming one or more of the problems identified in the prior art.